


Déjà-Mistletoe

by hazelNuts



Series: 25 Days of Christmas [6]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Pre-Slash, magic mistletoe, think mid s1 but dragged out till christmas, time-loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 13:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2734535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelNuts/pseuds/hazelNuts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘Is everything okay?’ Laura asks her, a frown on her face. <br/>‘Yeah, just had weird feeling of déjà-vu. I’m sure it’s nothing.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	Déjà-Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really bad at tagging. If you think I forgot any, please let me know in the comments.

‘Come on, Cupcake,’ Carmilla says. ‘I’m sure you did fine. It’s winter break and for the next two weeks, we are going to stuff our faces with chocolate and sugar.’

They’re walking back to their dorm and Laura is freaking out about her English paper, again.

Carmilla isn’t sure what to do. She’s not really good at saying the right thing. She knows how to fight and how to hurt people. But she’s never had much practice at being comforting.

She _wants_ to hug Laura close and curl up next to her on the bed until the girl forgets all about that stupid paper. But she’s not sure she’s allowed to.

‘You’re right. There’s nothing I can do until I get it back,’ Laura sighs as she steps into their room.

~

‘Come on, Cupcake. I’m sure you did… fine,’ Carmilla trails of at the end of her sentence. They’re walking to their dorm, but something feels off. She looks around the hallway, checking if someone else is having that same feeling.

‘Is everything okay?’ Laura asks her, a frown on her face.

‘Yeah, just had weird feeling of déjà-vu. I’m sure it’s nothing.’

The girls seems to except the explanation, but Carmilla can already see the little wheels in her head starting to turn.

She rolls her eyes. ‘Honestly, Cutie, it’s nothing. I’m over three-hundred years old. I’m bound to have a déjà-vu once in a while.’

She unlocks their door and steps aside to let Laura in first.

~

‘Come on, Cupcake. I’m sure-‘

She stops in the middle of the hallway, looking around wildly. This time she’s sure. It’s not just a déjà-vu, this happened before.

‘Carmilla? What’s wrong?’

Laura is already bracing herself, getting ready to hit anyone that comes near them, in the face.

‘This already happened. We were walking, I’m trying to calm you down, we get to our dorm and then, nothing. It all starts over again.’

She pulls Laura to the side. She lets the other students walk past them, whilst scanning for familiar faces. It could be Will, or maybe her Mother. Or perhaps one of the witches from the floor above them. She doesn’t see any of them.

Most of the people walking past are human. There’s the medium from the room next to them and a freshmen werewolf, who will probably join the Summer Society before the year is over. They’re looking a little bewildered as well. Their magic probably let them know something was wrong. The same way it did for Carmilla.

She looks at Laura. The girl is on high alert, scanning the area.

Feeling the vampire’s eyes on her, she turns.

‘What do we do?’

‘We find the trigger.’

‘You said you don’t remember what happens after we walk into our room. Let’s start there. I’ll go first. You check if anything happens.’

It’s not a great plan. Carmilla doesn’t like putting Laura at risk like that, but she knows that if she objects, Laura will get that look on her face. That look that says ‘I’m stronger than I look, I don’t get why you don’t see it’. That look is to be avoided. So she nods.

Laura walks up to their room, slowly, checking for any danger. She opens the door and steps inside. Nothing happens.

Carmilla peers into the room from a few feet away. Nothing seems to be happening. There is nothing coming from under their beds, no strange paraphernalia on the desk that she can see.

‘Is there anything on our beds that shouldn’t be there?’

‘No, except that my pillow is on your bed. Again.’ Laura grabs the yellow pillow and puts it back on her own bed.

‘I’m going to come in,’ Carmilla says and steps over the threshold.

~

‘Come on, Cupcake,’ Carmilla says. She immediately catches herself and pulls Laura to the side. ‘We’re in a time-loop.’

‘What?’

‘We’re in a time-loop. Every time we both step into our room we come back here.’

‘Oh.’

Carmilla watches as Laura’s human brain catches up.

‘How?’

She smiles, because that little cutie is one smart cookie.

‘We don’t know yet. Last time, you went in and nothing happened. The moment I stepped over that threshold, we were walking down the hallway again.’

‘So, it’s the doorway? I mean that would make sense, right? You weren’t really in the room yet.’

Carmilla hums. It would make sense. She grabs Laura’s arm and pulls her to the door.

‘I’ll check this side, you check the other.’ She opens the door and lets the girl in.

‘Why is my pillow on you bed again?’

‘Because it smells like you, Sweetheart,’ she answers distractedly.

She checks the floor first. Nothing. Next to the door there are the same old flyers as last week, taped to the wall. When she looks up, she sees it.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Laura seems to shake herself from some sort of trance and walks back out of the room. Looking up, she sighs.

‘That’s a thing. Enchanted mistletoe that causes time-loops is a thing.’ It’s not even a question. She’s simply stating another item to add to the list of weirdness that is now her life.

‘It sure is. And I’m really hoping it’s not what I think it is.’

Carmilla has seen mistletoe be used for spells more than once. The little plant seems harmless, even cute, but when mixed with other things, it can be very dangerous. She reaches out to touch it. There’s a light sting on her fingers, but no actual burns. That’s good. That means there’s no dark magic. A little white card is attached to the ribbon that binds the twigs together. She pulls it out a little.

‘Happy Holidays, from the Alchemy Department. This little sprig will last you till New Year’s,’ she reads aloud. Of course, it’s those doped up idiots. High on their fumes, they probably read the recipe wrong.

She’s seen this kind of thing before. In the mid eighteen-hundreds, her mother had hired a young witch to help them get away from an angry parent. The witch loved practical jokes, so she and Will had come up with, what they thought, a great one. They’d hung up little twigs of mistletoe above every doorway. You could pass under it alone, but if there were two of you, you’d be stuck until you kissed. Mother had thought it was funny for two hours. Then, she’d ordered them to take them all down. The witch had been sent back home and Mother had send a letter after her. The witch had lived in Salem.

It was probably the same kind of thing. Except with a time-loop. Now she just had to explain it to Laura.

‘I think I know what’s going on,’ she begins. Laura looks at her expectantly, eyes bright and attentive. ‘Those idiots from the Alchemy Department put a spell on it. You know the tradition. When two people are standing under mistletoe, they have to kiss. This spell amplifies it. If two people walk underneath it in quick succession, they get pulled back to right before that moment. It will happen every time, until they kiss.’

‘Can’t you just pull it off?’

Carmilla feels her face falling a little at the question.

‘No. It’s stuck until the spell is broken. We could probably take out the doorframe. But is facing Perry’s wrath really more alluring than a kiss from me?’

Her face settles into her sarcastic smirk. She’s leaning against the wall, the picture of not-caring. Her insides don’t feel like it, though. She’s not sure what she’ll do if Laura says yes. Actually she is. She’ll tear the doorframe right from the wall.

‘It’s not that. I just-‘ Laura sighs, turning the words over in her mind. ‘I just don’t want you to kiss me, because you feel like you have to. I want you to kiss me, because you want to.’

Carmilla’s frozen for one second and then she pulls Laura into the doorway with her.

‘Trust me, Cutie, that’s not a problem.’

She moves in, looking the girl straight in the eyes. If Laura still says no she’ll step back. She’ll shrug it off and move on.

Laura moves in the rest of the way. Her lips are soft and warm against Carmilla’s own. Taking control, she pushes the vampire back against the doorframe. And Carmilla loves it.

She loves how Laura tangles her fingers in her hair. She loves the hand that’s holding her hip in a tight grip. She loves the press of Laura’s body against her own. She definitely loves the teeth that are softly biting into her lower lip.

‘You think it worked?’ Laura whispers when she pulls back. She looks debauched, eyes shining and lips swollen. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair looks a mess from where Carmilla put her hands in it. She suspects she doesn’t look much better herself.

‘Only one way to find out.’

She steps around Laura, reaches up to the mistletoe and pulls. It comes down easily. She shakes her head, tosses the greenery into the hallway. She grabs Laura’s hand, holding her breath for a second, when she pulls the girl over the doorstep.

They’re standing in the middle of the room, looking at each other.

‘So,’ Laura says. ‘You wanna make out on the bed?’

Carmilla slams the door shut and turns the lock. She doesn’t care if the world is ending. No one is interrupting them.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on [tumblr](http://fandom-madnessess.tumblr.com/).


End file.
